Constitutive NF-κB activation underlines major mechanism of drug resistance in relapsed refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma

Diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is the most common subtype of B cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), encompassing 30-40% of the estimated 70,000 cases of NHL in 2014 in the USA. Despite major improvements with immune-chemotherapy, the fraction of patients who still succumb to a refractory or relapsed disease remains high. This review addresses whether the better understanding of the biology of DLBCL defines new therapeutic avenues that may overcome the emerging resistance of this disease to traditional immune-chemotherapy, such as rituximab in combination with traditional chemotherapy agents. Emerging targeted therapy for relapsed refractory DLBCL encompasses more complex molecular abnormalities involving signaling pathways other than NF-κB as mechanism of resistance to immune-chemotherapy. Our review suggests that NF-κB pathway is an important crossroad where other pathways converge as phenotype of resistance that emerges in patients who fail frontline and salvage immune-chemotherapy. Future efforts should aim at targeting the role of NF-κB resistance in clinical trials, where novel agents like lenalidomide and proteasome inhibitors with established activity in this perspective will be an important component in combination therapy, along with new monoclonal antibody, BTK-inhibitors, and other novel therapy agents.